A Low-RCS, High-GBP Fabry–Perot Antenna With Embedded Chessboard Polarization Conversion Metasurface

Abstract

A Fabry-Perot (FP) antenna with high gain-bandwidth product (GBP) and wideband radar cross section (RCS) reduction is proposed using an embedded chessboard polarization conversion metasurface (CPCM). A polarization conversion metasurface (PCM) unit and its mirror unit are etched on both sides of a dielectric substrate with chessboard arrangement to form a CPCM. The in-band and out-of-band low-RCS features of the FP antenna are realized by destructive interference, and the high GBP is attributed to the FP resonant cavity. Moreover, an additional small CPCM designed for another PCM unit is embedded into the original CPCM to construct an embedded CPCM, which helps to improve in-band RCS reduction and has a positive effect on gain enhancement and 10-dB impedance bandwidth. The measured results show that the FP antenna with embedded CPCM has a 10-dB return-loss bandwidth of 8.48-12.21 GHz (36.1%), a GBP of 1338, a 3-dB gain bandwidth of 8.9-11.5 GHz (25.5%) and a maximum realized gain of 17.2 dBi. Meanwhile, the measured RCS reduction band covers 8-26 GHz (105.9%) with a peak RCS reduction of 21.2 dB at 9.4 GHz.

Quadri-Cluster Broadband Circularly-Polarized Sequentially-Rotated Metasurface-Based Antenna Array for C-Band Satellite Communications

“…Four clusters of 4 × 4 S-shaped MTS elements on the upper substrate of the proposed quadri-cluster broadband CP sequentially-rotated MTS-based antenna array functioned as the chessboard polarization conversion metasurface (CPCM) [43]. The CPCM was utilized to realize a low RCS by phase cancellation [44] of the reflected wave between adjacent MTS clusters (Figure 5(b)). The co-and cross-polarizations of the reflected wave of the S-shaped MTS element were used to characterize the polarization conversion of the RCS.…”

A Broadband Low-RCS Circularly Polarized Meta-Antenna

“…Nowadays, the prompt development of metasurfaces [8][9][10] provides an alternative and potential strategy to address the aforementioned problem. Compared to the traditional methods, the polarization conversion metasurface (PCM) has been widely used to design low-RCS devices [11,12], of which through optimizing the polarization conversion (PC) bandwidth and the polarization conversion ratio of the corresponding meta-atoms, the operation bandwidth for RCS reduction can be flexibly controlled as desired. Therefore, several attempts have been taken to design a low-RCS meta-antenna while not affecting its radiation performance.…”

“…In the meantime, a dumbbell CPCM applied to an FP antenna was proposed in Ref. [12], which achieved an RCS reduction bandwidth of 8-26 GHz and an antenna operating bandwidth of 8.41-12.11 GHz. In addition, most of the reported low-RCS antennas just can interact with the linearly polarized waves [12,13], but only a few circularly polarized (CP) antennas have been investigated.…”

“…[12], which achieved an RCS reduction bandwidth of 8-26 GHz and an antenna operating bandwidth of 8.41-12.11 GHz. In addition, most of the reported low-RCS antennas just can interact with the linearly polarized waves [12,13], but only a few circularly polarized (CP) antennas have been investigated. More attention should be paid to low-RCS CP antennas due to their widespread applications such as radar, communication, and sensor systems.…”

Analysis and Reduction on in-Band RCS of Fabry-Perot Antennas

“…The combination of the MA and PRS can reduce the RCS out of band and weaken the influence on the gain of the FPA [21]- [23]. The FSS and PCM are arranged as checkerboard metasurface (CM) as the upper layer of the PRS, a broadband RCS reduction can also be realized [24]- [29]. Both the PGS and MA are used to design the PRS, the PGS improve the in-band RCS and the MA reduce the RCS within a wide band [30].…”